Kia ora koutou

At this stage:

• We are at alert level 2. At alert level 2, schools and early childhood centres remain open, but will be closed if there is a case of Covid-19 that affects them. This will be for a defined period based on health advice to undertake contact tracing and other activities. This means our current practice does not change. We will continue to apply our decision making tool to assess what actions are needed.

• While we are seeing mass school shutdowns elsewhere in the world, in New Zealand we don’t yet have community transmission of COVID-19 – so there isn’t currently a public health reason to do so here.

• Pre-emptive school closures may have unintended consequences – for example, children may need to be cared for by vulnerable grandparents, or they may be put in other social settings that could make things worse.

• Medical Officers of Health have the authority to close a school. They will only do so if there is a medical reason for this or after a confirmed case in the school. In that instance, they will need to close it for a short period of time while they determine if there is any risk to others.

• At the time of writing this pānui there is still no community transfer in Canterbury, or within our community

• The best defence continues to be good hygiene practice and physical distancing.

We know that this is an uncertain time and while school remains open and our kaiako and tamariki are all well, this is a good place for them to be. It is really important that we continue on with “normal” for as long as we can, so as not to put extra stress on ourselves, or our kids.

We understand if you feel that home is the best place for your tamariki. This is 100% your decision and we will continue to support you and your whānau in any way we can. We have been preparing for this, and access to learning will still continue. 

We are asking that whānau please keep tamariki home if they are showing any signs of being unwell and call or text us to let us know. 

Mel is in daily contact with the Ministry of Education and we are following all the processes that they have in place, to ensure that the safety of our kura and our community is paramount.

Tomorrow we will send out a pānui about the precautions we are taking as a kura so that all whānau are aware of the approaches and changes we have made. 

We also would like to stress that we are here for you. If you have any concerns or queries, please call or email us directly. Right now, we need to prepare and not panic. We are all in this together.

Kia kaha.

Rebecca Stevenson ( Chair BOT) and Melanie Taite-Pitama (Tumuaki)